Saturday, October 31, 2009

Italian Horror Blog-a-thon: Links (Updated 10/31)


[Here's what other people have contributed so far to the Italian Horror Blog-a-thon. Keep 'em coming...you can submit a piece anytime you'd like during the blog-a-thon's run. I will continue to update this on a daily basis so that it will be easy to find who has contributed and where you can find it. Everything will be in this one post organized by date. I will try to keep this updated at the top of the blog. All reviews written by me can be found below this post. Enjoy.]

Updated links after the jump...

Update: I have class from 8:30 until 3:45 today so if you send me a link to your post during that time trust that I'm not ignoring you...I will link to your review when I get home. However, my Oregon Ducks have a huge game against USC today at 5:00 (meaning I won't peel myself away from the television) and then I have a Halloween party at 7:30...sooo again, I promise I will post links when I get back from that. I just want to quickly say (and I'll wax poetic in a longer post) that I have been thrilled with the results of this blog-a-thon. It's been great to meet new lovers of the genre and have old friends contribute. I'll definitely be doing this again next year. Happy Halloween everyone!

Update #2: Check out the newly updated links below! Thanks for these amazing last minute entries, guys.


10/31

Jamie Uhler, one of this blogs nicest followers, has a wonderful post on Torso that is being featured and the equally wonderful Sam Juliano hosted Wonders in the Dark blog. Check it out.

Elgringo, author of the fabulous He Shot Cyrus blog, chimes in with some thoughts on Zombi 2.

And last but certainly not least is Dennis Cozzalio author of the amazing (and influential) blog Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule pens an exemplary essay on Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling, and some of the baggage that comes with a Fulci film.

Reviews are still coming in...I expect a few more updates today so keep checking back. A couple early one's for you, though. Chris Voss of the wonderful Celluloid Moon takes a look at one of my favorite Argetno films, Tenebre.

Also Jandy Stone of Rowthree.com checks in with her first attempts at the genre. I'm thrilled that so many people are introducing themselves to Italian horror because of this blog-a-thon. Jandy has some great thoughts up on Argento's Suspiria and Bava's The Mask of Satan. Check it out.


10/30

With just one day left in the blog-a-thon there are still some entries trickling in. Alec Pridgen (who has a picture of Reb Brown on his blog, so he's alright in my book) of the Mondo Bizarro blog has reviews up for Soavi's The Church and Argento's Phantom of the Opera.

Goregirl chimes in with some great thoughts on the classically named Black Belly of the Tarantula.

Samuel Wilson of the wonderful Mondo 70 blog (one of my favorites) gives his thoughts on the kinda-Italian horror/sleaze picture Delirium.

And finally my brother Troy is back from Italy and was inspired enough to write about the least Italian of Italian horror movies: Welcome to Spring Break by Umberto Lenzi. You have to check this review out...Troy has compiled some great stills and clips from the movie that will surely make you want to run out and get this movie. Plus it has Italian horror staple John Saxon! What more do you need? Get on over there and read about this so-bad-it's-good classic.


10/28

Roderick Heath co-contributor of one of my favorite daily stops, Ferdy on Films, contributes a fantastic review on Argento's brilliant Deep Red. Roderick and I share the same opinion on this particular Argento: it's his best film.

Another one of my favorite blogs is Antagony & Ecstasy, and if you've visited Tim's blog you know how prolific he is; but, what's even more impressive than the amount of work he produces is that there is an obvious care and craft that goes into each essay. Tim offers up his thoughts on what is considered the first (and most influential) horror film, I Vampiri. Check it out.

And finally today previous contributor Evil Dead Junkie has some thoughts on Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much.


10/27

Bob Turnbull of the extremely good Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind blog chimes in with some great capsule reviews.

Samuel Wilson of the fantastically entertaining Mondo 70 blog submits a piece on Pupi Avati's masterful and criminally underrated The House With Laughing Windows...easily one of the best Italian horror movies I've seen.

And thanks to my brother Troy there is a Youtube clip of Willy, the crazy caretaker of the sound stage in the movie Stage Fright. I mentioned in my review last Monday that you didn't want to miss Willy's delivery of the line "right between the eyes", and now it's online thanks to my brother. Check it out...it's pretty funny.

10/23

Neil of Agitation of the Mind makes it a hat trick as he covers the giallo The Case of the Bloody Iris.

Francisco Gonzalez chimes in with reviews for Soavi's Cemetery Man, Fulci's 8 1/2-esque A Cat in the Brain, and the famous Italian version of The Exorcist entitled Beyond the Door.

Jacob Burton of the B Movies Forever blog covers a couple of classics by also throwing his hat in the ring for The Case of the Bloody Iris, and Jacob also has some thoughts on Argento's seminal supernatural horror film Suspiria.


10/22

One of my favorite blogs The Basement of Ghoulish Decadence has a great entry up on Fulci's City of the Living Dead (a popular choice for this blog-a-thon).

And Michael Parent is back with some thoughts on Zombi 2.


10/21

Evil Dead Junkie, author of the wonderfully titled blog Things That Don't Suck, has a great review up for Fulci's gore classic City of the Living Dead.

One of my favorite blogs (maybe because Troll 2 is referenced in their banner) belongs to Tower Farm Reviews...two brothers who review horror movies (naturally Troy and I are trying to copy them with our blog Garbage Day), and back in September the brothers reviewed Lamerto Bava's bizarre horror film entitled Delirium. You have to check out the pics...just crazy.

Hans A. has been a good friend to this blog, and over at his site, Quiet Cool, he takes a look at an Exorcist rip off entitled Cries and Shadows. It wasn't uncommon at all for the Italian horror industry to latch onto whatever was trendy at the time. It's what killed Mario Bava's career. Check out Hans' submission.

Neil over at The Agitation of the Mind is back with another stellar contribution...this time it's for Fulci's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin. Great stuff, Neil.

And last but not least today is Starmummy, author of the B Movies and Beyond blog...here are two links where you can find all of his wonderful and succinct reviews for Fulci and Argento. Enjoy.


10/20

J.D. of the always enjoyable Radiator Heaven tackles one of my favorite Italian zombie films, Michele Soavi's Cemetery Man.

Neil Fulwood author of The Agitation of the Mind gives Fulci's giallo Don't Torture a Ducking a look.

Erich Kuersten of Acidmeic Film has a wonderful piece on the style and allure we Italian fans love so much in a piece that looks to be a part of series entitled Bad Acid 70's-80's. Make sure to check it out.

Michael Parent of Le Mot du Cinephiliaque offers up his take on Argento's Suspiria.

Will Errickson author of Panic on the 4th of July has a post up on one of the seminal Italian horror films (and the one film that a lot people think was the catalyst for Italian horror becoming a pop culture phenomenon), Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2 (aka Zombie Flesh Eaters).

Chris Voss of Celluloid Moon has a write-up on Mario Bava's extremely influential Bay of Blood, which introduced to horror world to one of its favorite tropes: the dead teenager film.

Last but certainly not least is Samuel Wilson, a good friend to this blog, author of the always fascinating Mondo 70 film blog. He covers Lucio Fulci's finale to his Gates of Hell trilogy The House by the Cemetery. Check it out.


That's it for now. Keep the reviews coming, though. If you talked to me via email a few backs back I am still interested in you posting something for this. Just email it to me or leave the link here in the comments and I will make sure to link it up. I will continue to update this post.

34 comments

  1. Thanks for the link, Kevin. I've been enjoying reading the other contributors' articles.

    In for a penny in for a pound: I've decided to put aside my ongoing Andrei Tarkovsky retrospective till next month (http://misterneil.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-early-bath-for-you-andrei.html) and contribute a couple more articles.

    I'm thinking Fulci's 'A Lizard in a Woman's Skin' and perhaps something by Mario Bava. I'll let you have the links as soon as they're online.

    Congratulations on what's shaping up to be an excellent blog-a-thon.

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  2. Neil:

    You're more than welcome! It's been fun reading all of these reviews. Contribute as much as you'd like. I appreciate it.

    Thanks for the kind words and for helping me promote this thing.

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  3. No problem at all, Kevin. It's been a while since I featured any gialli or Italian horror films on my blog; it's been fun reapproaching some old faves.

    My article on 'A Lizard in a Woman's Skin' is now online:

    http://misterneil.blogspot.com/2009/10/lizard-in-womans-skin.html

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  4. Thanks for the link. I might have another one for you, later in the month .

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  5. Making it three in a row, here's my thoughts on second division giallo 'The Case of the Bloody Iris':

    http://misterneil.blogspot.com/2009/10/case-of-bloody-iris.html

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  6. Evil Dead Junkie:

    I hope you do contribute something else. I enjoyed your piece quite a bit.

    Neil:

    Awesome. You're enthusiasm is palpable...I look forward to reading your latest thoughts on a film I haven't seen yet (it's on my DVD shelf, though).

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  7. Not a review so I don't know if it qualifies, but we subtitled a meeting between Umezu Kazuo (the man responsible for the horror genera in Japan) and Dario Argento.

    (http://tokyoscum.blogspot.com/2009/10/umezu-kazuo-meets-dario-argento.html)

    Let me know what you think!

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  8. Hi Kevin, I just posted my contribution to the blog-a-thon. I'm doing 5-6 horror reviews per post this month, so I gathered up 5 Italian horror films in one.

    Great work so far in the blog-a-thon.

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  9. Voidmare:

    Thanks for pointing me towards that. Interesting stuff.

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  10. Bob:

    Great stuff. Thanks for contributing to the blog-a-thon. I'll make sure to link to this tomorrow. I appreciate your interest.

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  12. Hey Kevin, thanks for posting links to some of my reviews! Great blog on Italian horror, its one of my specialities as well.

    Italians make some interesting horror movies...with a very unique style all their own which includes some if not all of the following:

    1- Non sensical storylines
    2- Bad dubbing
    3- Red Herrings galore
    4- Buckets upon buckets of blood
    5- Shock shock schock!
    6- Imitation of a more successful American film or two.

    Still, theres some truly original and entertaining ones out there that strive for excellence...like Stagefright, Cemetery Man..

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  13. Here is an entry from my blog partner, Rod Heath, on Argento's Deep Red: http://ferdyonfilms.com/2009/10/deep-red-profondo-rosso-1975.php

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  14. Thanks, Marilyn! I've left a comment on Roderick's review. This contribution is much appreciated.

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  15. Our pleasure. Rod does horror so very well.

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  16. Here's a link to a piece I wrote about The Girl Who Knew Too Much.

    http://thingthatdontsuck.blogspot.com/2009/10/return-of-31-days-of-horror-grrl-who.html

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  17. Thanks. The post is updated and the link is posted.

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  18. Hey, sorry for getting into this late. I just haven't done a lot of Italian stuff in recent memory.

    Here's my take on Argento's 'Phantom of the Opera.'

    http://mondobizarrocinema.blogspot.com/2009/09/mask-off-phantom-of-opera-1998.html

    As a bonus, here is make take on 'The Church' aka 'Demons 3'

    http://mondobizarrocinema.blogspot.com/2009/08/italian-redux-church.html

    Thanks in advance.

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  19. Tim:

    Thanks! I will link to those later today. Great stuff.

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  20. A link to Goregirl's Dungeon for a review of 'Black Belly of The Tarantula'. Cheers!

    http://goregirl.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/la-tarantola-dal-ventre-nero-black-belly-of-the-tarantula-the-dungeon-review/

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  21. Is Renato Polselli's Delirium a horror film or just plain insane? Here's a link, and I'll let Kevin decide.

    http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2009/10/delirium-delirio-caldo-1972.html

    Everyone's contributions have been great so far. I'm looking forward to the rest!

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  22. Goregirl:

    Thanks for the contribution. I look forward to reading it.

    Samuel:

    I'll take it! Hehe. I will link to it tomorrow. Thanks for the kind words and for contributing to the blog-a-thon...I agree with you, the submissions have been great. Keep 'em coming people!

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  23. Hi Kevin - so many great posts...this has been fantastic! Knowing you only have one day left, I went ahead and posted my review of Tenebre. The link's here:

    http://celluloidmoon.blogspot.com/2009/10/tenebre-1982.html

    Can't wait for a great finish tomorrow!

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  24. Thanks, Chris. I'll link to it tomorrow morning. I look forward to reading your thoughts on one of my favorite Argento (I don't think it's anywhere near one of his best, but it's a lot of fun and I always get a kick out of watching it).

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  25. With my Bava titles still missing in action and a couple of Argento's on loan to friends at the moment, it doesn't look like I'll be posting a last-gasp Halloween Italian horror film article as I would have liked to. But consider me on board already for next year's blog-a-thon.

    Congratulations on hosting such a successful meeting of minds; it's been a blast reading all of the articles. (Kudos to your brother on his piece, btw.)

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  26. It's been a blast reading all the pieces in this blog-a-thon, Kevin! Great topic and great work. I just wish I had time to contribute, but Halloween is always an insanely busy time. Keep it up and keep the blog-a-thons coming!

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  27. Kevin, Go Ducks! My piece is about a half hour away.

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  28. Kevin, my 'Torso' review is up at 'Wonder In the Dark'.

    Hope you like it.

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  29. Hi,
    this is El Gringo from He Shot Cyrus. Thanks for putting this blog-a-thon together. Very cool!

    Here's my entry.
    http://he-shot-cyrus.blogspot.com/2009/10/month-of-horror-day-26-zombie.html

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  30. Neil:

    Thanks for your endless enthusiasm for this project. It's been great getting acquainted with your blog.


    Caustic:

    I'm glad you've been enjoying the entries. Always great to have you around.

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  31. Jamie:

    It's linked! I'll be reading that later tonight. Thanks for contributing...it's awesome having a contribution from someone who loves the genre as much as I do.

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  32. Dennis:

    Go Ducks, indeed! Your post is linked. Thanks so much for contributing. It's an honor to have you a part of this. I will read your piece later tonight...I'm really looking forward to it.


    Elgringo:

    Thanks for contributing to the project. Your piece has been linked to in this updated post. I'm glad you could stop by and participate.

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  33. ...it's over?

    My heartiest congratulations, sir, on hosting one hell of a fine blog-a-thon. I had fun writing, and even more fun reading all of the very gifted people and their thoughts. And to you, Mr. Olson, my sincerest thanks for putting it all together.

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  34. Tim:

    Yes...sadly it's over. I will definitely be doing this again next year, though. I'm honored that you participated in the blog-a-thon, Tim. Yours has always been one of my favorite blogs. I really enjoyed your piece and I hope you'll swing by next year for some more Italian horror fun (of course there's always a good chance that I'll be reviewing horror, American or Italian, throughout the year on the blog since I love the genre so much).

    Thanks again for the kind words! This was a lot of fun to do.

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